Ikkesh

Ikkesh is named only as the father of Ira the Tekoite, one of David's mighty men. He himself is not described, but the patronymic recurs three times across the lists of David's elite warriors.

Father of Ira the Tekoite

In the Samuel roll of the thirty, Ira is identified by his town and his father's name: "Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite" (2 Sam 23:26). The Chronicler's parallel list in 1 Chronicles 11 keeps the same identification: "Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite" (1 Chr 11:28).

A third reference places Ira at the head of the sixth division of David's monthly army-roster: "The sixth [captain] for the sixth month was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite: and in his course were twenty and four thousand" (1 Chr 27:9). The patronymic is preserved in this military-administrative list as well — the man placed over the sixth course of twenty-four thousand is named, in full, as Ira son of Ikkesh of Tekoa.